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Jainism and Dr. Gour's Hindu Code.
It is notorious how certain lawyers and advocates do not hesitate in an emergency to cite over ruled precedents (rulings); but no one would have imagined that a lawyer of Dr. Gour's standing would be guilty of such a flagrant violation of a lawyer's Code of Honour. In his "Hindu Code" the learned Doctor has made a number of statements about Jainism which are simply astounding and against the conclusions established by scientific research. He regards the Jainas as Hindu dissenters and considers Jainism to be a child of Buddhism. Para 331 of the Hindu Code reads as follows:
"Jainism claims to be the precursor of Buddhism, but it is only its child. It is in reality a compromise between Buddhism and Hinduism, an adaptation made by those who could not receive the new faith, but who nevertheless took refuge in a creed, which, while retaining its traditional connection with Hinduism, has borrowed from Buddhism its doctrines and religious practices. In course of time as Buddhism lost its hold on India, its waning influence continued in Jainism till it relapsed into a form of Hinduism into which it individually became eventually merged and practically lost."
Dr. Gour does not refer to a single Hindu or Buddhist scripture or other ancient writing chronicling the rise of Jainism, nor he is able to point to a single doctrine or practice which Jainism may be accused of borrowing from Buddhism, though he makes the above statement in the paragraph quoted unblushingly, His authorilies are:--
(i) Mount Stuart Elphinstone's History of India. (ii) Certain rulings of Indian Courts, and (iii) The Bengal Census Report for 1881 pp. 87-88.
But these are not contemporary records; and the rulings certainly do not profess to determine whether Jainism is a child
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